Businesses often utilize software tools to facilitate their internal operations and interactions with other businesses, particularly in industries dependent on extensive network communication. In order to determine which software applications will optimize operations or inter-corporate communications, a corporation may consider the business processes associated with its particular industry as well as the business processes associated with the relevant roles (e.g. manufacturer, distributor) within that industry. By filtering the potentially relevant business processes by both industry and applicable roles, it is possible to effectively identify the business processes that most directly impact a company's costs and revenue streams. Business applications, suites, and platforms can then be selectively implemented so as to optimize the most critical process flows within an enterprise and thereby avoid expenditures on software that is not likely to generate substantial cost savings or revenue. That, in turn, maximizes the return on an investment in business software.
The potential return on an investment for such business applications may not be realized, however, without the contemporaneous implementation of appropriate support services such as maintenance, optimization, risk management, education, architecture planning, implementation, administration and systems integration. Maintenance systems include applications to monitor the critical portals, platforms and other applications to ensure that they are operating efficiently and reliably. Optimization services assist with capacity planning, configuration management, performance optimization, data management and system administration. Architecture planning services address issues such as design of system landscape, degree of centralization, and network topology. Implementation services assist with conceptualization and the technical implementation of business processes. Systems integration services integrate pre-existing systems with newly purchases business software solutions. These and other support services in many circumstances significantly enhance the efficiencies that business software applications are designed to provide.
Due to the significant number of support services available, it is often difficult for businesses to determine which services will most effectively compliment the business software that has already been selected or deployed. There is a need, therefore, for tools that assist in the identification of the software-related services that should be implemented in particular business environments to maximize the effectiveness of and increase the savings derived from business applications, suites, portals and platforms.